In thinking tkmaxx are taking the piss!

[nokissymum]

first time on aibu

I went into tkmaxx today and spotted a lovely winter cost for £60. after trying it on i decided to go for a medium size, however on checking the label noticed the medium size was priced at £70, same jacket, same style, made by same brand, same colour infact, only difference was the size.

Puzzled i took it to the till to clarify the price, thinking it must ave been a mistake, cashier explains that the prices are indeed correct, how come ? Her explanation is that they get their stock from various suppliers, so even though its the same jacket, the price is reflecting supplier charges.

I requested for the manager just to make sure i was hearing correctly, and she reiterated what the cashier said infact she added "you can look all round the store, you will find lots of identical items with different prices on them!"

Unfortunately they only had one medium size and that was the one costing an extra £10, so i left empty handed

Now ive been shopping at tkmaxx for a while now and NEVER knew they did this.

AIBU to think 2 identical items by the same manufacturer should be the same price ? I can understand sometimes more is charged for a larger size, but this is not the case here at all this is simply because it was stocked by a different supplier, a whole £10 extra for the same jacket ? How have they got with this ?

[wishingchair]

I see this all the time. Same item but different colour/size is different price in the sale ... just supply and demand isn't it ...

[CailinDana]

Sounds fine to me. TKMaxx is a discount store, as far as I know they basically pick up the leftovers from other stores and wholesalers. They obviously want to make a certain percentage of profit on each item and the amount will vary based on the price of the item when they buy it. The price they buy it at will vary depending on the supplier. Totally makes sense and isn't illegal as long as the price is clearly displayed. It's how they manage to be relatively cheap in comparison to other places.

[MenopausalHaze]

Well - there are many many 'should be's' in the world. Sadly, even though the jacket 'should be' the same price it is theirs to charge what they wish for it! I'm assuming it was already vastly reduced on the price it might otherwise be? Up to you to judge at what price it's still a bargain to you.

[IneedAbetterNickname]

I worked in tkmaxx for a good few years, and it used to happen alot! It is indeed as the items are from various suppliers. I can see why it annoyed you though, it used to annoy me too, and I understand how the system works

[Acandlelitshadow]

I've found the same item in the same size at different prices before. All part of the keeraaazy TKMaxx experience

[TeWihara]

I have had this in HMV before with DVDs. Some stock from X supplier is on sale, but absolutely the same DVDs from supplier Y, not on sale.

[JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar]

It happens in "normal" shops too, come sale time. Makes sense to me - if you have a zillion size 8s and only a few 12s to shift, the size 8s are going to be discounted more.

[nokissymum]

Their pricing is complete news to me, i've never been into a shop where identical items have different prices, but if this is something that tkmaxx do based on different suppliers then i guess they are well within their rights like you say, i do think they should put a price range sign on the racks though, so that customers at least have a chance to look for the cheaper item before going to pay.

[nokissymum]

wishingchair and jensimarrheplaysguitar i already said in my first post that the two items were identical, except for the size, the price difference was NOT because of the size.

I also later spotted another identical jacket of the same size, but with yet a difference price, so size and colour (all 3 were black) had nothing to with the difference in price.

[5inthebed]

Try having bigger boobs, now there is a crazy price range.

Didnt a MN find her DDs lost handmade comfort toy for sale in TKMaxx once? Some pink zebra/giraffe/cat thing IIRC

[ChippingInAutumnLover]

5inthebed - yes they did - I'd forgotten about that!!

nokissy - do you actually understand why now it has been explained to you? They buy stock in, they agree a purchase price, they mark that up by x amount. They buy stock from another supplier - agree a price, mark that stock up by x. They don't have the time (nor I suspect the inclination) to see if they have bought that item from another supplier or not.

I can see it's annoying and it's a reminder to all of us to check when we shop there but it does actually make sense.

[molepom]

Most retailers do this with clothes anyway of you look.

Next are a bugger for it. The bigger the size the more money you pay (kids clothes in particular)

[sleepdodger]

molepom thats bcause kids clothes attract different tax rates once they get to a differnt size

[GeeinItLaldy]

I bought a Billy Bag overnight bag in TKMaxx. Picked it up in the handbag section marked at £60. On wandering around the store, I noticed the identical bag in the luggage section...for £50. You can guess which I bought.

[nokissymum]

molepom yes i am aware of differences in pricing for kids clothes as they get bigger, but tkmaxx seems unique in this particular case.

They shouldnt be allowed to away with it.

[nokissymum]

Soory, meant to say "get away with it"

[SoupDragon]

Get away with what exactly? Earning the same profit on each item?

[purpleturtletoise]

And if they were to standardise the price, they wouldn't mark them all to the lower one, would they? No doubt you'd be annoyed by that too!

[nokissymum]

No im not expecting them to mark the price to the lower one, but to stick to one price for identical items.

[nokissymum]

soupdragon but they are not earning the same profit on the items are they ? This is precisely my point.

[HildaOgden]

They may have been from the same manufacturer,but the manager explained they were from different suppliers.So I presume the suppliers charge different rates,and then TKMaxx add on their cut,so that's how they get the different prices.
It makes sense to me :)

[SoupDragon]

Nokissy, you haven't understood what they told you, have you?

Jacket 1 was bought from supplier A for £X
Jacket 2 was bought from supplier B for £Y

X and Y are different. Add the same mark up to both and you get the two prices you saw in store.

[nokissymum]

hilda i do understand their reasoning behind it, my point is it is i feel it is wrong, seriously how do other stores manage to keep their prices the same across identical clothes, do they not use different suppliers ? It cant just be tkmaxx that stocks using different suppliers surely

[Kayano]

I don't think op gets the difference between manufacturer and supplier

[nokissymum]

soupdragon there's nothing about their so called "markup" that i dont understand believe me, its the principle of it im struggling with, i dont know any other store that does this, infact when other shoppers overheard the conversation i had with the manager they were quite shocked and said they had no idea either.